FLORIDA’S ANSWER TO A FREE MARKETPLACE FOR TREATMENT BETWEEN DOCTORS, PATIENTS, AND EMPLOYERS!

If you haven’t read it yet, please read about the new, July 1, 2018, Direct Primary Care (DPC) law, in the April/May/June edition of the FCA Journal. Florida is now added to the list of only 16 states of the 25 states in the country with Direct Primary Care laws for chiropractic physicians. What does this mean? Now you are able to contract directly with patients and employers for a monthly set fee for services you agree upon, without the hassles of insurance. Is this true? Yes, the law specifically provides that these agreements are not insurance and you are not bound by Florida’s insurance laws.

OK, so the Department of Labor said they were raising the salary level for exempt employees sometime in 2015. Then they said they didn’t know when it was going to be. Then they said December 1, 2016. They said the new number was $970 per week. Then they said it was $927. Then they said it was another number and they didn’t know what it was. Then they said it was $913. Now, at just about midnight, a Texas judge issues a preliminary injunction that prevents the rule from becoming effective on December 1st. So all of the work, preparation, sweat and tears that management has put into getting ready for change is for naught, at least for the time being. This is especially true for non-profit organizations and small businesses.

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” -- Sir Winston Churchill, following the Battle of El Alamein, 1942.

Following a proclamation of intention about a year ago, and nearly 12 months of anxious concern and speculation by employers, the United States Department of Labor has published the final rule regarding increased salary levels for exempt employees. The news is not as bad as it could be but it still represents a seismic change for employers. Here is what we know:

The FCA has had two calls recently in which a member learned that they had an employee/contractor whose license was not valid. Chiropractic physicians who employ licensed health care practitioners, either as W2 employees or as independent contractors, are responsible for verifying licensure status.